It's been almost a week since I started a new project, so...

Got some things finished. Got my best friend's long-overdue wedding sampler pillow door-hanger thing to her, and she loved it. (Yay!). Mailed the box of Yarn Goodies to my brother, which included this instructional swatch:


And, in a fit of yarny optimism which I'm blaming squarely on my favorite knitter-down-under, RandomKnits, I actually pulled out supplies (!) and did a proper schematic (!!) and swatched (!!!) for Girl From Auntie's Rogue Hooded Pullover (aka the Rogue Hoodie). I've had the pattern for years now, and kept *meaning* to start it, since I love it (and, let's face it, there was always the hope that I'd suddenly lose 50 pounds, which would mean it would be a much smaller, less-yarn-requiring, faster knit). Through the magic of Twitter, I learned that half a world away, someone was casting on... thus, I was compelled to follow suit. But, darnint, after the Argyle Hearts sizing disaster of Ravelympics 2010, I was going to do it RIGHT. I want to be able to wear this thing when I'm done with it!!

As there are limited options for patterns that will actually fit over my hips and understand that "big butt" doesn't mean "super-long arms", I'm getting pretty good at altering patterns to fit. So, first, I write out what the designer's sizing hints are in my "Naughty" notebook. (Hey, it was a dollar at Michael's before Christmas; I have a "Nice" one, too, but I didn't grab it when I needed something to scribble my Hello Kitty reverse pattern in. So, it's my knitting notebook now). Then, the joyous task of sizing myself, while wearing the clothes I'm going to wear under the hoodie, so the blasted thing will fit over them. This - not so fun.Then deciding which measurements can be kept honest (such as length of arms), and which should probably have more ease added. (Darn you, hips!)


Then, swatching. And measuring, and swatching again, and re-measuring, just to make sure. Looks like I get a gauge of 4.5 stitches per inch, and... and I hope I wrote down the row gauge somewhere. Anyway, once I know how many inches I'm gonna get, I can actually put the sweater on graph paper. This tells me that (a) I'm short waisted, (b) I'm going to be putting the kangaroo pocket a bit higher than "normal" for comfort and (c) six skeins of yarn should be Quite Enough. I'm doing it in a lovely chocolate brown color, rather than the green I'd originally intended, because the yarn called to me. (Yarn does that, you know.) Then there was casting on.

Sunday night, during the Oscars, I cast on and managed to knit 10 rows of twisted stockinette (not bad). Sadly, Monday, I discovered that I'd somehow managed to cast on an extra FORTY stitches. Frog, frog, frog went the pretty sweater beginning. (It'll at least be quicker to reknit those 10 rows with 400 less stitches, right?) Then there was the long-tail cast on, performed twice as a not-long-enough cast on, followed by a much-too-long-tail cast on, which I deemed was just fine by me.


Then there was the knitting eight rows, and discovering the danged thing was twisted - and I KNOW it wasn't at one point, so how the heck did this happen??


Eight rows it takes to notice the dang thing is twisted. Grrr.
So, it was all frogged AGAIN, and this time, screw it. I did a cable cast on (just not being up to Yet Another too not-enough or too-much long-tail cast on), and knitted the first row back across, so there's a DEFINITE direction the stitches should be if they're not twisted.


Then I carefully put the whole thing down on the counter, and got the stitches all going the way they should before starting the second row in the round:


No way will twisting happen AGAIN.
(And it didn't. You would've heard the screams.)
Let me add that two complete frogs and several partial frogs of this sweater has resulted in a pile of chocolate brown yarn that will be an absolute bear to untangle. (Note to self: Frogging after 10pm is like feeding Gremlins. You won't like what you find in the morning.) The upside of the frogging? I was actually able to "try on" my little knitted loop before frogging, and discovered I had VASTLY overestimated the ease needed for my hips, so the rows are now a good four inches shorter than they were originally. I don't need to be wearing a hooded cabled muu-muu. So, finally, by the end of lunch on Tuesday, I had a big loop of brown stitches. This bit of knitting has the following characteristics:

1. It's the right size. The schematic will be amended accordingly.
2. It's not twisted. This means I may actually be able to keep knitting right up to the armpits this time.
3. I now have so much invested in this hoodie that there's no way I'm not finishing it by the end of April (dammit).
4. I think it's secretly laughing at me.

Anyway, knitting recommenced during commutes and lunches throughout the week. As of this morning, here's where I am:


Look! You can see the pointy bits of the knotwork started!!
There's hope I'll finish someday. (And hopefully before the Celtic festival at the end of April!)